Heart of the Game - Life Death and Mercy in Minor League America

S.L. Price

Summary

“The best baseball book I have ever read . . . Price gives us an understanding of minor-league baseball, of small-town America, of faith and love and loyalty.” —Philadelphia Daily News

On a July evening in 2007, during a Double-A Arkansas Travelers game, a foul ball rocketed off Tino Sanchez’s bat and struck first-base coach Mike Coolbaugh. The thirty-five-year-old father of two—with another on the way—was killed almost instantly. Heart of the Game tells the story of this tragic event and its aftermath, and of the minor-league players and coaches who dedicate themselves to the sport all over America, far from the celebrities, scandals, and multimillion-dollar contracts of Major League Baseball. Named the #1 Baseball Book of the Year by Baseball America, it brings us into a world of small-town sports and small-town lives, and the pure joy of a game played away from the noise of mindless internet blather and media hype.

Includes photographs

“Genuine and raw . . . a heartfelt work of despair, triumph, and redemption.” —The Boston Globe

“A superb piece of journalism . . . deeply reported by one of this nation’s finest sportswriters.” —San Antonio Express-News

“This is one of the baseball books that will endure for as long as the game is played.” —Richard Ben Cramer, New York Times–bestselling author of Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life

“Odds are you never heard of Mike Coolbaugh or Tino Sanchez. But you’ll never forget either man after you read this compelling, superbly written book.” —Dave Barry

Available since: 05/05/2009.

Print length: 338 pages.

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